MUMBAI (Reuters) – India’s central bank, on Thursday, proposed making the country’s credit bureaus more accountable by strengthening the grievance redressal system via measures such as alerting customers when their credit report is accessed and compensation for delayed or altered reports.
The Reserve Bank of India said its move was taking into consideration the rise in customer complaints regarding credit reports and the functioning of credit bureaus, or credit information companies (CICs).
CICs collect an individual’s or company’s credit history — including their transactions and payment information on loans, credit cards, etc — to issue a report with a credit score, which mainly banks and financial institutions use.
The RBI has proposed that CICs have a timeframe in which to ingest the data they get from credit institutions.
It has also proposed that customers be alerted, via a text message or email, when their credit information is accessed and a compensation mechanism if CICs rectify or delay updating any information.
Additionally, the RBI has proposed CICs disclose the number and nature of customer complaints on their respective websites.
The detailed guidelines will be issued shortly, the RBI said.
In August, the RBI included CICs under the purview of the Reserve Bank – Integrated Ombudsman Scheme to provide a cost-free alternate redress mechanism to customers of banks and non-banking finance companies for grievances against CICs.
(Reporting by Siddhi Nayak; Editing by Savio D’Souza)
